Tag Archives: taking care of yourself

Eating with Winnie the Pooh

A. A. Milne – E.H. Shepard – Winnie the Pooh – DreamsQuote

Last night I gave into our desire for comfort food, since our weather has been gray, cool, and rainy lately and made hamburger patties and macaroni and cheese. It hit just the right note with my husband, and he declared the meal ‘delicious’ several times.

Mostly we are trying to watch what we eat in an effort to lose our lard, get as healthy as we can, and be able to continue doing most of what we would like to do. We have found two places locally who are offering REAL FOOD and STU’S CLEAN COOKIN’ – individual frozen dinners with few ingredients – all of which you can pronounce and understand – with measured portions that are GOOD for us. We feel as it we have found a treasure trove.

Particularly when the weather is good, I like to spend a lot of time outside – working in our veggie garden, gathering harvests of lettuce, spinach, radishes, yellow squash, zucchini, broccoli, onions, and tomatoes each time I can for us to enjoy right from the garden. Much of the time I am helping with the lawn or weeding my flower beds, so it’s nice to have veggies from the garden and a good-for-us delicious dinner that only has to be nuked to be ready to eat.

As soon as I finish here, I’m planning to go out and take pics to share with you, hopefully harvest my first gathering of veggies, plus get things ready to cover the plants for some possible freezes this week.

I hope that you are well and happy this morning, and that your Sunday is a nice one.

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Ahhh!

Public Domain Pictures

I am about to leave to get a massage!

After all the power washing I did this week – 9 chairs, our deck, and the back sidewalk, I kind of limped around all day yesterday, stiff and sore and not the least bit motivated to do much, my body is really looking forward to some pampering today. I got a good night’s sleep last night – except for an hour or so when I went downstairs to read some more – so this massage will finish off a nice bit of pampering.

The weather forecast is such that I will probably have to wait until at least Saturday to do the power washing I want to do in the front – the porch, front sidewalk, and garage pad – plus, I will see what it does on the water stains on some planter bricks.

I’m not sure what the rest of the day will hold, but the sun is shining brightly and I’m almost on the way to get a massage. I can imagine few better ways to start a day.

Have a wonderful Thursday.

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Thoughts on a Monday 3-29-2021

Country Living Magazine

We are about to leave for quite a list of errands – the first of which – I’m grateful to tell you – is to drive to Fort Smith to get our second COVID vaccination. I will never forget my parents talking about the aftermath of the Spanish Flu Pandemic in 1918-20. My dad was born that year. My mom, 3 years later. The effects of that pandemic were truly awful, with about 500 million people infected and 50 million deaths worldwide (about 675,000 in the U.S.) The effects of the pandemic lasted for years. People felt so helpless because there seemed to be nothing to be done to protect people – just deal with the symptoms as best as possible and hope for the best. I will be glad when everyone who wants to get the shots is protected.

Our weather here is really nice – sunny and windy today with more rain tomorrow. I’ll take it. I’m trying to do SOMETHING in the yard each day. My veggie raised bed square foot garden is doing well so far, as are my two brick planters of tomatoes.

I hope that today is a good one for you, too.

Stay safe and well.

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Seasonal Help with Eating

BoredPanda.com

I’m grateful for spring also because this season of the year helps me in my efforts to lose the lard.

I’m growing leaf lettuce, head lettuce, radishes, yellow squash, zucchini, red onions, spinach, broccoli, tomatoes, and celery. Being able to look forward to harvesting some of this straight from the garden to our table at night makes a big difference in my eating. I can throw off the comfort food of the winter and embrace being outside longer each day and eating big, healthy salads for our dinners.

All of my outside activities encourage me to drink more water, as well. My pedometer takes notice of my increased mobility and that encourages me to do even more.

Fingers crossed that this all comes together and I can make some good progress on my efforts to get healthier, stronger, and more flexible.

123RF.com

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Healing

Irish Proverb – Lessons Learned in Life – Schultz – Peanuts

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Tense and Tubby

A. A. Milne, E. H Shepard – Winnie the Pooh – DreamsQuote

Things have been challenging here lately, and my reaction to it is to tense up, sleep sporadically and poorly, and ‘scrunch up’ so I hurt all over – being stiff and sore.

My old lady yoga stretches are saving my life. I try to routinely do about 35 minutes of so, just to stretch things out. Lately, I am taking more and more time in my efforts to relax and rejuvenate. It really helps.

I’m grateful to Cat Kabira who makes wonderful yoga DVDs for getting me started. She has such a kind manner, stressing that it doesn’t matter if you can touch your toes or not, or if you cannot fold yourself into a paper airplane in a particular pose. She says that the relaxation, breathing, and stretching as far as you can at the time is what is important. I would have given up almost before I started if I hadn’t been lucky enough to find her on the Sixtyandme.com website.

Now I do my own routine, spending as much time as I need to in order to make up for the day’s challenges. I feel much better after I do my practice.

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Splurge

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We went for a splurge breakfast after I got a blood test this morning at our doc’s office. I hate needles, so the prospect of a really nice breakfast afterwards makes it much easier to act like an adult. :0)

In Arkansas, the rules for percentage of capacity of dining-in at restaurants has expanded a bit. Everyone is still wearing masks and the servers place the diners pretty far apart. They now bring you menus and take your order rather than everyone standing in line to order at the front counter. I felt as safe as one can these days as I enjoyed a truly delicious breakfast.

We saw a dear friend who works at our bank while we were there. She was having breakfast with her parents. It has been ages since we saw her. It was good to be able to wave, exchange a few words, find out she and her family are okay, and see part of her face. (I love it that you can still tell when people are smiling, even when they are wearing a mask.) :0)

My husband and I are in the high risk group for COVID (being old and having other conditions) and we are lucky that we have an appointment to get our first vaccination shot Monday morning. I hope the rate of vaccinations can continue to increase until everyone who would like to receive the protection is immunized.

As far as food goes today, our splurge breakfast will hold us until we have a bowl of the beef stew I made in the crock pot yesterday for dinner tonight.

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Minus Sugar and Carbs

Just kidding. :0)

My husband has Type II Diabetes, so we cut out as much sugar as possible several years ago. That, along with medication, is keeping his blood sugar at a good level. He really had to work to do it. He LOVES sweets. He even calls ME “Sugar.” I’m really proud of him that he is building good habits. He does splurge, but we monitor blood sugar twice a week and pay attention to it.

We had two places start up in Greenwood this year – REAL FOOD and STU’S CLEAN COOKIN.’ Both provide individual serving frozen meals that are HEALTHY and DELICIOUS.

Today I’m cooking a chuck roast in the slow cooker, but most of our days are built around having one of their frozen meals, or the ones I make from the leftovers we have. We have a sandwich or tuna salad for lunch, and we try not to eat much in-between. It seems to be working for us, albeit slowly.

In these days when we need to be particularly careful about our health (we are in the high risk group for COVID) it just makes sense to also eat as healthy as possible and try to lose the lard.

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Priority

Lose Weight With Momovi

I’ve been taught that to think of yourself first is selfish. We didn’t talk about it that much that I remember, but somehow I felt guilty even considering what I wanted. Now that I’m older and supposedly wiser, I think that making yourself a priority and meeting your own needs is important, if not essential, to then reaching out and helping others. I admit I’m still ambivalent, feeling a twinge as I typed the last sentence, but I think that when you are hurting, it takes up all the oxygen in the room, no matter how hard you try to move past it and carry on.

I always have a long to-do list. Only in the last several months have I listed my time on the elliptical trainer in the garage and my yoga practice as “priorities” for the day, rather than merely included on the list as “shoulds” IF the time and energy are found when the other things are done. The same thinking has applied to the idea of including some FUN in my day – even if only a little bit of time – done when the ‘important’ things had been accomplished.

Even if it’s “selfish,” I am now actively considering what I want.

I’m considering it a priority to eat right – but to also enjoy any splurges with gusto.

It’s a priority to keep moving, doing ‘regular’ exercises or work outside, or talking a walk, or SOMETHING to make me as strong and healthy as possible.

I’m consciously making time each day to do something that brings me joy, whether it be reading a favorite book, playing in my art room, enjoying the good weather outside, learning something new, reaching out to a friend, etc.

I’m trying to push the ‘shoulds” to the bottom of my to-do list. If I can check one off, that’s great, but not of the highest priority anymore.

I’m working at trying to alleviate stress – something that has been taking up a lot of time and effort lately. A favorite quote is “Do what you can, with what you’ve got, where you are”. (Attributed to Theodore Roosevelt)

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Snacks

imgflip.com – tumblr – Spoon University

This is DAY THREE of not eating anything between meals. That, along with portion control at meals and my efforts to move more should result in happy results on the scales and on my measuring tape. The weather is finally warming up, too, which means I can get outside more. I feel that things are coming together now.

It would be easier to simply sign up again for a weight loss/meals provided program again, but I’m determined to take responsibility for what I eat and drink. We are getting lots of help with two new places here locally who each provide individual portion frozen healthy meals. We eat one of those for dinner. I make us a sandwich or tuna salad for lunch. My husband eats snacks when he likes. He is much closer to his goal weight, but we’re still trying to watch his sugar intake.

I’m trying to build good habits that will result in my getting and staying in reasonable shape so I can continue to do most of what I would like for the rest of my life. I’m kind of using you as a check for accountability and reporting. I hope you don’t mind.

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Back in the Saddle

“I’m back in the saddle again
Out where a friend is a friend
Where the longhorn cattle feed
On the lowly gypsum weed
Back in the saddle again”
~ sung by Gene Autry

PictureQuotes.com

I earned 2 stars yesterday for exercise, so I’m feeling ‘back in the saddle again of daily exercise :0) When I finish getting some blog posts up, I’ll head for the garage and my elliptical trainer. I’m hoping that both the scales and my tape measure will show some progress by the end of the month. One can hope!

Speaking of that, I’m really trying to find good things lately in an effort to not be buried in gloom. My husband was doing a bit of the ‘whine and cheese’ bit last night, and I gave him a pep talk about concentrating on the GOOD in our lives, rather than the bad. He saw my point, particularly when I was able to give him several examples that were personal to us. I really think this is important for our sanity and general health.

One hopeful thing is that we might be able to get the COVID vaccine eventually. I read a thing online saying that people 70+ could start getting it Jan. 18th at one pharmacy locally. I called, discovering that they weren’t taking names to add to their list right now, since the list was several hundred people long. She suggested that I call back the 1st of Feb. to see if they had opened the list again. The fact that we MIGHT be able to be added to a list in the next month or so is good news.

Yesterday I took a bunch of new products to the shop where I share a booth with a good friend. I rearranged everything and am hopeful that someone will take a look, like what they see, and take something home with them. :0)

I hope that you are having a good Thursday.

Stay safe and well.

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Under Height

I’m doing well so far with getting serious again about eating right and exercising. My scales are starting to take notice and do something besides smirk. I’m doing my elliptical trainer in the morning and my yoga stretches in the afternoon and trying to concentrate on moving in-between. I felt bad Friday afternoon, but other than that have done well. :0)

Instead of a commercial weight loss program as we’ve tried before, we are enjoying frozen meals for dinner from Real Food and Stu’s Clean Cookin’ – both new to Greenwood, interspersed with my own cooking, the leftovers from which are stored in individual servings in the freezer with the other meals. This encourages paying attention to what a ‘serving’ is. Sometimes I fix an extra veggie or salad on the side, but most of the time, it’s just the meal.

For lunch we’re having homemade tuna fish salad – made from one small can packed in water for the two of us – sugar free jello, plus I have olives and my husband has sweet pickles. We are trying not to snack in-between meals or before bed.

I’m trying to drink lots of water.

I’m hoping to be able to report a good amount of poundage loss by the end of the month, but it will take as long as it takes. As long as the scales are showing a downward trajectory and my measuring tape is showing a bit of progress, I will be satisfied.

I will be delighted if I feel stronger, more flexible, have more energy, and feel fewer balance problems as I continue to exercise daily. I smile when I see the gold stars on my desk calendar. I will have earned 6 stars this week – and will have a chance to earn 14 next week. :0)

With so many things happening in the world over which I have NO control, I take comfort that THIS is something I CAN control.

TaoLife.com

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Decision

Oberto

For my husband and I today is DAY ONE.

This morning we started an honest effort to get ‘back on the horse’ of our healthy diet – and for ME – daily exercise – in a real effort to continue our efforts to get the lard off, get and stay healthier. Our ‘diet’ has no time limit. We are trying to make a lifestyle change. This is not to say we won’t celebrate occasionally, or indulge in a favorite goodie when we reach our goals. This IS to say we will eat mindfully, trying to eat fresh, clean, REAL food.

I made tuna fish salad for our lunch. We had sugar free jello, and I had some black olives.

I read today that drinking broth is a good way to solve any hunger problems. I have some here at home, but will try to find a bone or chicken broth with the lowest sodium I can find. I will plan to make a cup for a mid afternoon snack.

Clipart Library

I have earned one gold star so far today for doing 35 minutes on my elliptical trainer. It’s in our garage, so I got a little cold, but I consider this a character-building – as well as physical – exercise. :0) I will try for a second gold star this afternoon, when I plan to do about half an hour of yoga stretches. I will also make note of my steps, although this is more of a monitoring effort right now, just to make me pay a bit more attention to it and motivate me to move a bit more.

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Diet Perspective

Fodors Travel Guide

My husband and I will be getting serious about our diet again on Thursday. Why Thursday, you ask? I have trouble eating right when my husband is not on board – at least with the main thrust of it. I can handle his sneaking ‘goodies’ into the shopping cart that only he will eat, but if he’s not on board with the main program, it’s a waste of time and only results in frustration and arguments. Life is too short for that. HE has decided that Thursday is the day, so I’m gearing up for that.

We’re enjoying a ‘last hurrah’ by eating some of the wonderful things we received at Christmas. We have bought other things, and have been enjoying sandwiches and other things in the bread family, plus a bit from the greasy/salty food group, plus some truly ‘awful’ things from the sugar ball food group. All this ends Thursday morning. We have agreed.

We have given away a huge bunch of stuff. We will put other things in the trash for pickup today. We will thoroughly enjoy eating our way through more today and tomorrow. We will buy good, healthy things needed for Thursday and beyond, and I will plan some healthy snacks.

OUR ‘New Year’ will begin Thursday morning, and hopefully, by the end of this month we will have made some good progress. I have re-started my yoga practice, and will do a session on my elliptical trainer in the garage on Thursday morning. I have my gold stars ready for my desk calendar – one for yoga, one for elliptical, and another for steps.

If YOU are also trying to get healthier in 2021, let’s encourage each other.

TaoLife.com

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Diet Tip for 2021

Forwarded by a friend

I am almost finished eating my way through a lot of the ‘goodies’ (baddies?) I received for Christmas. I put a good amount of things in the freezer yesterday – WAY down deep – under a lot of things – in my chest type freezer in the garage, which is right beside my elliptical trainer. Hopefully, this will give me the perspective I need to stay away from them for the foreseeable future, maybe to enjoy a bit as I reach major weight loss goals in the future.

Most people seem to have trouble staying away from sweets and sugar. I like those things, but my biggest problems are bread, starches, and salty things. I found a recipe for some low carb bread that is pretty good and I’ll make that again. I have riced cauliflower and zoodles in the freezer in individual serving packets, since my husband won’t even CONSIDER eating those as a substitute for rice, macaroni, spaghetti, or potatoes. I am preparing myself to fix HIM some starch and I will eat my meat and sauces over the substitutes. We have a nice variety of good-for-you individual frozen meals from Real Food and from Stu’s Clean Cookin’ in the freezer. In fact, we have been eating several of those each week. I have gathered and cut up some raw veggies to enjoy as snacks. I also have hard boiled eggs and some cheese.

The main sticking point is getting our MINDS set to quit indulging and start practicing adult choices. For some unknown reason, my husband wants to wait until January 6th to start. I really have trouble not eating something when he brings yet another French Toast Fritter into the living room to enjoy between meals.

Heard enough lame excuses yet?

Pleated Jeans

“Diet is coming…”

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Weight Loss Motivation

Rebel Circus

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Exercise?

“Exercise” –

ekser,siz – verb

a verb, believed to be a myth

Tiebreaker

I love this picture. I’m still smiling. :0)

Penn Fitness Warehouse

My elliptical trainer is in our garage. It’s the only place we could put it where it would not be on carpet and wouldn’t take up too much room. Therefore, the outside temperature affects my willingness to use it. Most of the year, this is not a problem. My husband mounted a nice box fan on the wall in front of the elliptical. I can turn it on all spring, summer, and fall to make it more comfortable to be out there. I have a problem when it gets too cold in the winter.

Right now it is 27 outside. Even with the effort on the elliptical, I freeze. I use that as an excuse not to do it. That works for today, and possibly tomorrow, but my excuse won’t be good when it warms into the 40s and 50s by the end of the week.

BoredPanda.com

I AM doing my super gentle yoga for old broads daily, though, and that is truly helpful. Without it, I tend to fold up like a tent. I notice this in particular when I have monthly massages. My therapist spends a lot of time pulling on arms, legs, and head, trying to ‘pull my head out of my rear’ (if you’ll pardon the expression) because I tend to implode. Right now I’m not getting my massages because my therapist is recovering from surgery. I’m hopeful we will be able to resume in February or March, when she is feeling sassy again.

My yoga is not the ‘fold-yourself-into-a-pretzel-or-paper-airplane’ type. It’s good, quiet, long, gradual stretches that make my body say, ‘ahhhhhhhh!’ when I finally am able to relax into each pose. I move into it as far as I can, then just BREATHE. I can FEEL my body giving a bit at a time, stretching more and more. I started my practice a few years ago, when I was 71. I’ll be 74 in March, and I’m hopeful I can continue this the rest of my life. I want to get and stay as flexible as I can. It also helps with my back, plus my balance.

I am trying to do some walking, but again, the weather is a factor. I’m not desperate enough to get out my “Walking-with-annoying-Leslie’ DVD yet, but it may come to that as winter sneaks in.

I hope you’re trying to take care of yourself, too.

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Dead Eye

Spic.one

I finally saw some progress on my scales this morning. My husband and I have been eating well, enjoying individual frozen meals from Real Food and Stu’s Clean Cookin‘ in Greenwood.

The problem is that we’ve been enjoying too much OTHER food that isn’t so good for us. The pandemic is our latest excuse, but the real problem is us.

I have decided – once again – to be responsible for my OWN eating, letting my husband stuff his face with ‘sticky buns’ – his latest indulgence, while I drink more water, eat some raw veggies with Ranch dressing as a dip, and hopefully continue to see results on the scales. The fact that HE is also seeing results is maddening – but I’m too old too whine and pout – MUCH…

I will concentrate on doing my elliptical trainer this morning, my yoga this afternoon, eating my raw veggies and drinking water, and looking forward to the scales being impressed with my efforts.

Please wish me luck.

123RF.com

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The “Lighten Up” Diet

CoolFunnyQuotes.com

I no longer feel ‘grim and determined’ when I think of my efforts to lose the rest of my lard.

My husband and I have become totally spoiled by two new companies that have come to Greenwood AR recently: REAL FOOD and STU’S CLEAN COOKIN’.

Both offer really TASTY, healthy individual frozen meals that can be ordered online and picked up.

We eat frozen meals for dinner 5 days out of the week. I cook carefully on the weekends. We eat a light lunch, with a break on Fridays when we join our good friends.

The convenience of the already prepared, portion-controlled meals that actually taste good being the main meal of the day allow us to enjoy eating again without overdoing, concentrating on the other things we’re doing each day and not spending a lot of time in the kitchen.

We are spending less than half of what we were spending for commercial diet programs. Ordering each week, if we happen to find something that we don’t care for, we aren’t stuck with a month’s worth of meals we have to grit our teeth to eat.

I actually can joke about my efforts to lose my lard again, with the determination still there. We can ‘lighten up’ on both our meals AND our attitudes!

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Diets

Dolly Parton – MyWeightLossDream.co.uk – QuotesGram

Nutrisystem, South Beach, BistroMD – all helped, but we stopped, feeling the same as this wonderful quote by Dolly Parton above.

Now we are lucky because two new companies started businesses here in Greenwood – REAL FOOD and STU’S CLEAN COOKIN’, both offering healthy frozen individual portion meals at reasonable prices.

We plan around eating their meals 5 days a week. I then fix a keto-friendly meal that has enough for the weekend, and maybe even a lunch the following week. We eat a frozen meal at night, usually tuna fish salad for lunch, and as few careful snacks as possible the remainder of the day. It’s working for us, albeit slowly.

My husband is basically at his goal weight now. We are trying to be very careful of his sugar, since he is Type II diabetic. I still have about 30 lbs to lose to get to my goal weight. I’m losing more slowly, am the one who is actually exercising, and does all the orchestration of our eating. I would bite my husband in the leg, but basically like him too much to do that just because he seems to lose weight effortlessly. (If he gives me another reason, all bets are off.) :0)

I really like not having to figure out what to cook every day. I also like the fact that we are eating good, healthy food with portion control that actually TASTES GOOD. We can still go to Lunch Bunch to meet our friends each Friday without losing the ground we’ve gained during the week.

I am hopeful that if we ‘keep on keepin’ on,’ (‘holding our mouths right’ as we say in Oklahoma and Arkansas) maybe I will eventually meet MY lard-loss goal, too.

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Ahhhhh!

American Kennel Club

I’m leaving shortly to have a massage. Ahhhhh!

My wonderful massage therapist will be having surgery very soon, though, and the recovery time is pretty long, so this massage will need to last me until February or so. My wish is that the surgery goes smoothly and that she heals thoroughly, feeling good again.

I was going to call to arrange to have our fall checkup on our geothermal system, plus our quarterly bug spraying, but both companies called ME to schedule! We had the geothermal check yesterday and are good to go now through the winter into the spring. Not only is our guy super competent about how our system works, but he crawls up into the attic to change out one of the filters for us – saving my husband and me the chore – AND our dog, Amber, is in love with him. She wags her tail so hard the whole time he is here that she sleeps soundly after he leaves. He always stops to talk to her and give her a lot of love before he leaves.

Our fish are swimming around in a sparkling clean tank again. They thanked me in their way, for the nice digs.

Our weather has warmed up again, so we’re able to open doors in the afternoon, airing out the house. :0) I’m hoping to be able to do some work outside this afternoon.

I hope that you are having a great day, too!

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Ahhhh!

iStock

I will leave soon to get a massage this morning.

I discovered how amazing it is several years ago when I was working as a medical transcriptionist/bookkeeper for a medical office that included 8 busy general surgeons. I had worked so long and hard trying to keep up with things – working 12 to 14-hour days – that I was unable to take my blouse off over my head at night.

I went to the doc who recommended I continue my swimming and whirlpool at the local gym after work, but also to add massages. My insurance wouldn’t cover massages, but I decided I really needed help.

Long story short, the massage therapist saved my life. It took several weeks of two massages per week, but she unknotted my back and neck miraculously.

Even though I am working for myself now, I consider massage an important part of taking care of myself.

My therapist is having surgery next month, so it will be a character-building exercise for selfish me to wait until she is thoroughly healed (I think in March) and we can continue.

Massage is a wonderful gift you can give yourself to help you deal with the rest of your life without ending up with your body in a knot. :0)

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Defying the Idea of Aging 5

GrowingBolder.com

 

 

 

GrowingBolder.com

 

 

 

GrowingBolder.com

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Defying the Idea of Aging 4

GrowingBolder.com

 

 

 

GrowingBolder.com

 

 

 

GrowingBolder.com

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Relief

“Caught Red-Pawed” – Audrius P. – Bored Panda

 

Our last BistroMD meal last night was Salmon. It was mostly edible, but my husband and I both used lots of tartar sauce. (Usually I don’t use anything except maybe a squeeze of lemon on salmon, so I was really disappointed). Neither of us could identify the side veggie, but we each took one bite and that was it. I just looked it up online and it was eggplant with 5 spices. (Maybe it would have been better if they had used 6.) We are in celebratory mode now because we are moving on. (We still have some snacks from both South Beach and BistroMD, but time will tell if we are hungry enough to eat them.)

Today I will cook some pork chops. We will have a side salad and a celebration of small portions of black eyed peas with onion.  We will eat half of this tonight and the other half tomorrow. Monday we pick up our order from Real Food. I’m eager to try that.

As with so many things, their competitor has already sprung up in Greenwood. It’s called, Stu’s Clean Cookin’. I was impressed with the ad in the paper. They list calories, fat, carbs, and protein for each meal listed. They identified some as “low carb,” “contains dairy,” and “contains gluten.” I like that.

So – just as we needed them, we have TWO nice companies preparing frozen meals we can try! I will be doing a lot of label reading. I plan to at least have several meal options available in the freezer while trying to get back into the swing of meal planning for keto eating.

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Hooraaaaaay!

“Caught Red-Pawed” – Audrius P. – Bored Panda

 

Tonight we eat the last meal from BistroMD. This program was not a good match for us, and we are happy to be able to move on. Sad to say, I didn’t lose any weight over the past week – just held my own. (I didn’t get any taller, either.

If I grew about 5 inches, I would be in MUCH better shape. I have a massage next week and will encourage my wonderful therapist to redouble her efforts to pull on my head, legs, and arms enough that my problem might eventually go away. :0)  (One can dream….)

We are looking forward to a week off. We have ordered some hand-prepared frozen meals from Real Food in Greenwood. We will pick up our order Monday. Some of our Lunch Bunch friends say their food is delicious!   In the future, we will do a combination of keto meals and meals from Real Food – if we like it – concentrating on portion control, good choices, and exercise. Fingers crossed.

 

 

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Defying the Idea of Aging 3

GrowingBolder.com

 

 

 

GrowingBolder.com

 

 

 

GrowingBolder.com

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Filed under aging, Attitude, empowerment, Encouragement, quality of life, taking care of yourself

BistroMD – First Impressions

Caught Red-Pawed – Audrius P. – Bored Panda

 

Our BistroMD first week’s food was delivered yesterday afternoon. The package warned of dry ice, but it was all melted. The food seemed to be good and cold, though.

One thing that is different from the other plans we have tried is that they want you to take out the food for the next day, transferring it from the freezer to the fridge to thaw slowly. I do that with meat, chicken, and fish, anyway, but this is the first time we have done it with frozen dinners.

Our first meal was dinner last night. My husband had “Beef Stroganoff” and I had “Broccoli Cheddar Stuffed Chicken.”   These are both from the Diabetic Menu, since we are both trying to avoid any added sugar.

We both thought our dinners were OKAY, and certainly better than the South Beach frozen stuff. (We both had really LIKED the “White Bean Chicken Chili” and “Cheeseburger Soup” in tiny bowls from South Beach for lunch and dinner, though, so we don’t want to rush to judgment. We may still be in withdrawal from finishing those.) This is more nutritious than what we have been eating lately, with the veggies being included in the meal, rather than depending on the customer to add good choices as a side. The Beef Stroganoff included mushrooms, and broccoli, with linguini. The Broccoli Cheddar Stuffed Chicken included carrots and a barley salad with spinach, red onions, and slivered almonds.

A drawback, as far as I am concerned, is that they did not have a keto eating plan choice. Since my husband has Type II diabetes, though, and my goal is to simply lose the lard in the most healthy way I can, this is certainly worth a try. It looks like they are arranging the day’s food to be around 1000-1200 calories.  I am hopeful these good people can help us lose the lard and eat healthy.

I was able to do my yoga stretching yesterday for the first day since I got bitten/stung by the ants last week, and I’m planning to do that, plus a good amount of yard work today as my exercise.

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Value Yourself

Ayn Rand – SayingImages.com

This doesn’t have to mean HUGE changes in your life. It can mean carving out a bit of time for yourself each day. Use it to do something you really enjoy, something that brings you pleasure, brings you peace, makes you smile. If you can’t DO something, you always have your mind and your heart. You can escape for a bit, if you need to – listen to music, read a book, sit in your chair with your eyes closed.  Be sure to do something each and every day.

“Learn to value yourself, which means:  Fight for your happiness.” ~ Ayn Rand

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Stress

Freepik

Stress  (forwarded by my sister-in-law)

Management for Women!

A young lady confidently walked around the room while leading and explaining stress management to an audience with a raised glass of water. Everyone knew she was going to ask the ultimate question, ‘half empty or half full?’  She fooled them all. “How heavy is this glass of water?” she inquired with a smile.  Answers called out ranged from 8 oz. to 20 oz.

She replied , “The absolute weight doesn’t matter. It depends on how long I hold it. If I hold it for a minute, that’s not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I’ll have an ache in my right arm.  If I hold it for a day, you’ll have to call an ambulance. In each case it’s the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes.” She continued, “and that’s the way it is with stress. If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won’t be able to carry on.”

“As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again. When we’re refreshed, we can carry on with the burden – holding stress longer and better each time practiced. So, as early in the evening as you can, put all your burdens down. Don’t carry them through the evening and into the night.

1 * Accept the fact that some days you’re the pigeon and some days you’re the statue!

2 * Always keep your words soft and sweet just in case you have to eat them.

3 * Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.

4 * Drive carefully… It’s not only cars that can be recalled by their Maker.

5 * If you can’t be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.

6 * If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.

7 * It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others.

8 * Never buy a car you can’t push.

9 * Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time, because then you won’t have a leg to stand on.

10 * Nobody cares if you can’t dance well. Just get up and dance.

11 * Since it’s the early worm that gets eaten by the bird, sleep late.

12 * The second mouse gets the cheese.

13 * When everything’s coming your way, you’re in the wrong lane.

14 * Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.

15 * Some mistakes are too much fun to make only once.

16 * We could learn a lot from crayons. Some are sharp, some are pretty and some are dull. Some have weird names and all are different colors, but they all have to live in the same box.

17 * A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.

18 * Have an awesome day and know that someone has thought about you today.

AND MOST IMPORTANTLY

19 * Save the earth.  It’s the only planet with chocolate!

Today someone asked me if I liked you.  I laughed and said, “Ha! That’s funny!  I absolutely LOVE that woman!  She’s funny, caring, crazy as heck, sweet, beautiful, she’s reading this e-mail right now and I love her!”

Send this to ladies you love!  Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the floor each morning the devil says “Oh crap, she’s up!”

Eleanor T. Cicerchi

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Filed under Challenges, Changes, Cherishing the Quiet Day, taking care of yourself

Thoughts on a Saturday 8-29-2020

forwarded email

My heart goes out to the people suffering from Mother Nature’s fury. So many good people are hurting, with physical and emotional damage on top of the pandemic concerns.  We just need to concentrate on helping each other the best way we can.

We are getting to the bottom of our South Beach diet boxes. I am DIYing more and more as we run out of things, gradually making my way to the point where we will be on our own once again. The two month reboot for our keto efforts has been good in many ways

  • a blunt reminder of what a ‘serving’ is – and is not
  • a more subtle reminder that we don’t need to walk around hungry. There are good choices for snacks mid morning, mid afternoon, and before bed that remind us that each meal is NOT our last. I’m stocking cut up fresh veggies, cheese sticks, hard-boiled eggs, nuts, etc.
  • a reminder that eating right is only part of the equation to being healthy. I’m am still trying to do a 35 minute session of my elliptical trainer in the mornings (though I just do it until my body complains too much and then I stop, regardless of the time – at LEAST doing 15 minutes. Lately, I have been substituting heavy yard work (cleaning up after the storm) and cleaning out our ruined greenhouse (hauling things out and taking them to the garage and/or the shop). I am then doing a good session (35 minutes +) of yoga daily. These stretches are gauged for Seniors, so are NOT trying to get you to fold yourself into a paper airplane. They are designed to help you gain flexibility, core strength, and relaxation.

Unsplash

(I have ALWAYS been somewhat stiff and inflexible. I was in an exercise class in college. We did an exercise where we were lying on our stomachs. We were then told to lift our arms and legs simultaneously up as far as we could get them, and then move them down again, over and over. I did the ‘up’ just fine. The ‘down,’ not so much. I went up, something ‘caught’ in my back, not allowing me to bring my parts down again. I was yelling in pain. They finally got two big guys to lift me up over their heads, like the prow on a ship, and carry me to the infirmary. When they finally got me fixed, I had a waiver for that exercise. Being long-in-the-tooth only exacerbates my normal stiffness, so it’s more important than ever)

  • I am gearing up to cook all the time again. I will miss the stuff the South Beach Diet people sell in tiny bowls – ‘cheeseburger soup,’ and ‘a white beans something-or-other.’ Both were delicious. We ordered a few more packages of pancake mix, because my husband really likes those, to let us down gradually. In the meantime, I will look for ingredients so I can make low carb pancakes from time to time from scratch. We also like the shakes, but won’t order more.
  • At this point, I have lost 40 pounds and 43+ inches. I will do everything I can NOT to regain any of this back, and will keep trying to lose more. I would like to lose another 30 lbs to get into a good, solid, healthy BMI range for my height. (I’ve tried getting taller, but that doesn’t seem to be in the cards.)

Otherwise, the ruined greenhouse is now empty.  My husband and I have agreed that we will let the shell sit until things get cooler. (Today’s forecast is 98 degrees F. with a heat index of 112) Today I will concentrate on getting my seed-starting area in the garage workable, with things either stored out of the way or taken out to the shop, and things I need easily accessible.  My husband fixed one of my lights over the counter. I found, and hooked up, my grow light, so I have a start.

I hope that you have a happy Saturday.

 

 

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Filed under DIET!, exercise, Gardening, getting the lard off, greenhouse, Healthy Eating, Mother Nature, quality of life, taking care of yourself